NEW ORLEANS - The Pelicans are promoting star forward Anthony Davis for the Most Valuable Player, but at least one observer believes the race is already over.

"In my opinion, (James Harden) is the MVP of the league," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "It's not even close, really, what he's doing with his team and the numbers he's putting up."

He said Davis has played at an MVP level, but that the Rockets' record – with a 15-game lead on the Pelicans going into Saturday's game – is too great to overcome.

"He's been fantastic. He's been unbelievable," Gentry said of Davis. "I think the only difference in him not being heavily, heavily in the conversation is obvious we haven't had the type of season that a Houston has had or a Toronto has had, you know with (DeMar) DeRozan and those guys. But other than that, what he's done and what he's meant to our season, it can't be expressed in words. He's truly an MVP candidate.

"We just don't have the wins that those teams have and I think that's the difference in where he is on the scale of MVP as opposed to Harden or DeRozan."

In the 17 games since DeMarcus Cousins was injured, Davis has averaged 31.1 points on 49.7 percent shooting along with 12.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocked shots.

"He's really good," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Obviously, when Cousins goes down, he gets more opportunities to do that. His numbers just come up. Doesn't mean he wasn't doing it before. He's always been one of the best players in the league."